Woman Adopts Dying Best Friend’s Kids

Elizabeth Diamond and Laura Ruffino are the epitome of best friends forever. 30 years into their friendship, one of them was diagnosed with stage 4 brain cancer.

When Elizabeth, a single mother of four daughters received her diagnosis, she turned to her best friend and asked if she'd take care of her girls if she didn't make it.

Without hesitation, Laura agreed.

"She said if anything ever happens to me I want you to take my girls and I instantly said okay,” said Laura. Sadly, Elizabeth passed away in April, but Laura honored her promise and she and her husband, Rico,  who have two daughters of their own,  immediately adopted Elizabeth’s four girls, who range in age from 5 to 12.

As you'd imagine, having six kids definitely isn’t easy on the Ruffinos, whose house is crowded and budget is tight, but their community of Orchard Park, New York (just outside of Buffalo), has rallied around the family and has helped raise money for their expenses and others are asked to do the same.

An online fundraising campaign has been created to help the family and to assist the family. So far, more than $100,000 has been raised.